1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a work vehicle including an engine supported by a body frame through an elastic body, and a power takeoff mechanism having an input shaft which is driven by an output shaft of the engine through a transmission belt.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a work vehicle as described above, there can be mentioned a riding type mower as disclosed in, for example, Japanese patent application JP11-257088A (paragraph 0012 and FIGS. 2 and 3). This riding type mower includes an engine mounted on a front portion of a body frame, and a transmission shaft (corresponding to power takeoff mechanism) interlocking with a work power takeoff shaft (corresponding to output shaft) protruding frontward from the engine through a transmission belt. The engine is mounted on and supported by the body frame through an anti-vibration rubber. In this work vehicle, if the power takeoff mechanism is supported by the body frame, disadvantages may arise in power transmission and product life. Specifically, in this work vehicle, there may be a relative displacement between the engine and the body frame due to the presence of an elastic body therebetween. If the power takeoff mechanism is supported by the body frame, there may be a change in a distance between the output shaft of the engine and an input shaft of the power takeoff mechanism, leading to slippage after loosening, or to damage after being strained, of the transmission belt that interlocks the output shaft of the engine and the input shaft of the power takeoff mechanism.
There is also mentioned a mower disclosed in Japanese patent application JP2006-6168A (paragraphs 0020 to 0024 and FIGS. 1 to 5) including a rear wheel drive case, a hydrostatic transmission, and a mown grass conveyance duct. The rear wheel drive case supports rear wheels, and has a pair of right and left support portions flanking the duct and an intermediate portion connecting the pair of right and left support portions. The intermediate portion is positioned downward of the conveyance duct. The hydrostatic transmission is connected to a rear side of the left support portion. In this mower, there may be a disadvantage that, because of the presence of a portion of the rear wheel drive case downward of the conveyance duct, the minimum height of the rear wheel drive case from the ground is not large. In addition, there may be an inconvenience that, because of the presence of the hydrostatic transmission between the rear wheel and the conveyance duct, a width of the conveyance duct is made small.